State Rep. Rachelle Smit on Friday made the following statement after a Michigan election official said he violated state law when ordering clerks to delete information from the Qualified Voter File. The new admission from Secretary Jocelyn Benson’s Department of State came during court proceedings this week.

“How many times will Secretary Benson and her cronies admit to violating election law before Democrats and Republicans band together and demand answers? This isn’t the first or only time the Michigan Department of State has given out illegal guidance. These findings give us good reason to assume other similar unlawful regulations have been handed down to our clerks. Illegal mandates like this are exactly why we’re going to force Secretary Benson to hand over our clerk’s training materials so we can ensure they were developed according to state law and not her own personal preferences.

“Secretary Benson has shown she will say and do whatever it takes to stop the people of Michigan from seeing just how poorly she has managed our elections for the past five years. Though she’s attempting to stall by holding us up in court, the truth will come out – just as it did this week.”

The newest revelation of illegal orders follows Smit’s nearly year-long effort to obtain election training materials from the Department of State. Smit, who chairs the House Elections Integrity Committee, said reviewing the materials to ensure they follow state law is critical to maintaining the security of our elections, especially given Benson’s proven track record of pushing illegal mandates on election workers.